The United
by MoondustWolf
Summary: My lil thing for the anniversery of 9-11. It's half that and half. . .you'll figure it out. Let's just say it's sorta overuses, the topic. Oh well. Kinda sweet lil' thing. My first Ani-fic, so please be nice, but also please review!


The United  
  
Just a little thing. I was bored. My little tribute to 9-11/my attempt to do what so many others have (You probably can figure it out from that, but if you haven't, you'll see) my first Animorphs-fic, so be nice, pweeze.  
  
  
My name is Marco. I'm not going to tell you my last name. I don't know if it matters anymore or not, but just to be safe.  
  
My life used to be as strange as it gets. I guess it still is. See, we were . . .are . . . Animorphs. My friends and I. Kids who can turn into animals. Think I need a dose of some good, strong medicine yet?  
  
Oh, no. It's real. All too real.  
  
We were given the power to morph from a dying Andalite. So many crazy things happened after that, fighting the Yeerks. Probably the craziest for me was finding out my mom wasn't dead. For 2 years, my dad and I though she drowned. But she was really Visser 1, leader of the yeerk invasion here on Earth.  
  
Getting her back was the best thing that ever happened to me. Losing her had probably been the worst.  
  
We won, eventually. But Rachel, the fiercest and probably strongest of us all, paid the ultimate price. Her life. Jake lost his brother. He and Cassie, and Tobias, they were all lost in their minds.  
  
I almost feel guilty for having gotten off so well.  
  
We fought the final battle, in which we won at last, on September 10, 2001.  
  
And the next day, as you well know, tragedy struck.  
  
I was in school when it happened. An announcement over the PA said that a plane had struck the WTC. What's weird is, all I could think was "Damn, some guy must not be good at flying a plane" I didn't realize what had happened, at first.  
  
Over the hours, reports flew in. By the time I'd traveled home, the twin towers were gone, and between New York, the Pentagon, and some Pennsylvania city, over 6000 lives were reported lost.  
  
Later they found out it was about half that. Woop-ti-do.   
  
And now, it was one later. We were attending a candlelight vigil, all us remaining Animorphs. There was to be a ceremony, and then someone would sing the national anthem.  
  
I'm the funny one, yes. The joker. But there was nothing funny about this. About the lives lost. That, my mom, those were things I couldn't joke about. Rachel . . .I didn't know. I'd made jokes about her when she was alive.   
  
But even I couldn't make fun of a dead person. .   
  
The ceremony went quickly, with many people making short statements. A flag was raised, then lowered too half-mast. and a moment of silence held.   
  
And then came the national anthem.  
  
I didn't see her at first, the crowd was too thick. I wanted to get a look at this girl, see if she was hot. I pushed to the front of the crowd, and looked up.  
  
And stared.  
  
The blond hair, the eyes, all the features I knew so well. I recognized her instantly.  
  
Rachel.  
  
Alive.  
  
And as she and, for some reason, all I could think was 'Wow, she's good, I didn't know she could sing like that.'   
  
She got down, and came to me. I just gaped at her for a few minutes before finally managing to speak.  
  
"Rachel?!"  
  
"That's it, yep."  
  
"But . . .but you're dead!"  
  
"I am, really, didn't appear that was to me."  
  
"But how?"  
  
"Guess"  
  
I thought about it for about 2 seconds. And I knew.  
  
"The Elimist." Not a question.  
  
"Who else?"  
  
"Okay. But still . . .how?"  
  
"Marco, did you hear about that dog, the one who led the blind lady out of the tower?"  
  
I though about that for a moment, processing.  
  
"You mean . . .?"  
  
"Yeah. He said he'd let me live, but I had to save one live in exchange"  
  
I was shocked. We went on like that for a few minutes, and then just started talking about other things. Like how we'd won the war at last. And, of course, I asked why she'd come to me first.  
  
She mused on that for a second "I don't know, I guess I just wanted to the reactions. The others are going to go flat-out nuts, I think. At least Cassie and Tobias. Probably Jake, too. I know what he's been going through. You're the only one I could trust not to jump on me."  
  
I laughed, nodded. Then she grinned.  
  
"Plus, you idiot, you were the only one here"  
  
I called the others then, and got them all to come over. Made a little speech, and brought Rachel out.  
  
It was sweet, I guess. Not that I judge "sweet" often. Like Rachel had guessed, they went flat out nuts. Tobias couldn't exactly jump on her, and Jake looked like he was containing himself, but Cassie very nearly threw herself at Rachel. I'd never seen any of them that happy, once they got over their initial shock. Cassie got her best friend back, Tobias, his boyfriend. And a huge emotional weight was lifted from, Jake, our leader.  
  
I went to sleep that night looking at the small scale American flag perched on my desk. September 11th had been one of the most tragic days in all history, and yet so much good, so many good things came from left and right on that day.   
  
I knew of two.  
  
That lady Rachel saved, and Rachel herself. Rachel, Xena, Warrior Princess. I smiled. She was by far the most insane of any us. I decided to go back to her tomorrow, and remind her of all that I pictured it in my mind, and the though faded into dream.  
  
"Hey Xena," I called good-naturedly, enduring a somewhat-painful smack on the arm with her shopping bag, "Who you gonna kill now? You're out of Yeerks to blow up, you know  
  
Hey, I said I wouldn't joke about a dead person . . . 


End file.
